


The Definition of a Brother

by Blonde_and_Nerdy



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Family Feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:48:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23253481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blonde_and_Nerdy/pseuds/Blonde_and_Nerdy
Summary: Tristian and Sabine have a discussion on what exactly is a family.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	The Definition of a Brother

**Author's Note:**

> This has been sitting on my computer for over two years. Hopefully, it can make at least one person smile during these turbulent times.

Stopping by the open door Tristan cleared his throat. Inside the maintenance room surrounded by parts for various machines used to keep the Wren clan running, Sabine looked up. 

“We received a message from your Rebels.” Tristan tried not to shift his weight around in his discomfort.

“Thanks for delivering it, you can set it on the table. I’ll read it after I finish fixing up this old sensor unit.”

She seemed to be paying only half of her attention to Tristan, the rest was completely on the machines. Hopefully, she will take the news well enough then. 

“The thing is, when the message first came through the secured comm relays, Mother believed it to be a message with important Rebel Intel.” Now Sabine looks up, but Tristan cannot decipher her feelings from her face anymore. 

“Let me guess, Mother read it even though it’s addressed to me and turns out it’s not rebel intel.”

She lifts one hand out for the datapad he’s carrying. He was expecting anger but Sabine seemed more resigned and sad instead. 

“Yes, and then asked me to look at it to try and decipher the rebel code. But I am pretty sure it’s uh, all just rebel gossip.”

Cautiously Tristan enters his sister’s domain and placed the pad in her hands. It seems everything that he did around Sabine that is not training or mission orientated was done with caution. 

He waited by the door watching her eyes skim the letter remembering what he read. The first part was all about the relationships of different people Tristan had never heard of, Spector four and muttonchops were apparently pinning and it was horrible. Sabine seemed to be laughing soundlessly though and he had not seen that in a while. 

“Can I ask you a question about the letter?” 

Tristan had to repeat the question twice before Sabine realized he asked anything.

“Sure, but I can’t guarantee an answer.” 

Most of Sabine’s answers these days were only partial answer. She kept a lot close to her chest, close to her heart. 

“So this letter was written by the jedi boy, so what is that name he kept calling you mean, Nami? Is it like friend, dear,” he pauses for a moment to gather some extra courage “maybe love.” 

Sabine’s blank faces only lasted a few seconds more before she burst out laughing for real, big and loud. There are even a few tears in her eyes from laughing so hard. Tristan himself just stood there frozen and uncomfortable, cursing himself for making another assumption about his sister's life and been made an idiot out of it. 

When she is calmer Sabine finally says,  
“It means sister in Lothali, you doof. I would never date Ezra, that would be like dating you or Zeb, ew. Plus you know I prefer women anyways.” 

Tristan had not known this but he felt that admitting such would be a bad move. 

“I just wanted to make sure. I know you and Ezra seemed close when he and the other jedi where here. I want to know the people that are important in your life.”

That makes her face soften a bit.

“Well Ezra is important to my life even though we are not dating, he is my brother after all.”

“I’m your brother.” Escaped out of Tristan’s mouth before he could stop it.

“Yeah and so is he. The whole ghost crew is my family.”

The slightly resigned tone in her voice was back. Tristan's eyebrows scrunched up as he tries to come up with a way to argue against that without offending Sabine. Using words to fight had never been a strong point of his.

“Look I know what you are thinking, but they are my family. Just a different kind and definition of family.”

All the softness retreated from Sabine and the carefully neutral face she used when speaking to others started to appear. 

“I believe there is not much wiggle room in the definition of siblings. Unless you know something about mom and dad I don’t.” 

There that should be neutral enough with a bit of humor to break the ice. Instead, Sabine just shakes her head.

“That’s the definition around here on Krownest but the galaxy is bigger than the mandolorian system and there are thousands of definitions for siblings and for family.”

Something in Tristan’s face must have told Sabine he was not following because she continued,  
“Look what do you know of the Lasat people?”

“Isn’t your crewmate a lasat, Zeb is his name, right?”

“Yes, Lasats raise children collectively, so the term brother, the nearest translation really, is used to describe someone that you survive something with. Generally, before the Empire that was these religious ceremonies where young Lasats would be sent in groups to the wilderness to connect with the Ashla and their fellow Lasats. Members of the honor guard and soldiers would also use this words as well for those they fought beside.” 

She said it then but to Tristan, it sounded almost like a grumble and then a purr, not like a word.

“So what you mean is that your crew is like a family to you because you fought together?”

“It’s not about the fighting it all the other stuff.” She rubs the side of her head thoughtfully, it was a familiar gesture from their childhood. “One time before we started working directly with Phoenix squad we had to camp out on an inhabited planet for four weeks while we waited for a vital part for the Ghost to be delivered. Of course, we had some food but not enough so Zeb taught us all about hunting and forest survival. We couldn’t even enter the ghost most of the time because of noxious fumes, we had to depend on each other and the planet. Does that make sense?”

Tristan thought about snow season when the rough snow storms buffer the walls of the Krowsnest and everyone lends a hand in preparing for them by stocking up food, heat, or making sure the walls were sturdy.

“Maybe, it’s family because you rely on and support each other.” 

“That’s part of it, but there more to it than just working together. In the old Jedi Order family was all about learning, students and teachers formed deep bonds and worked very closely together learning from one another and then passing that knowledge on to others.”

This one made no sense, he had plenty of teachers before his time in the commandos and in them and none were anything like family. 

“Jedi did not have family, that’s why they took other people’s children, Sabine.” 

She rolled her eyes and gestured to the floor next to him. He sat beside her making sure to move bits of metal out of the way. It would be uncomfortable to accidently sit on something important and metal. 

“They had families, they just weren’t based on biology. The Jedi use the term Lineage, to express it. It’s important to their society the passing down of knowledge. But it more than that, it’s about learning together and growing. A master will help the padawan walk the path to adulthood while the padawan will show the master new ways of looking at the world. He can’t say it outloud anymore but I know Kanan always considers himself, Kanan Jarrus, padawan of Master Depa Billaba. ” 

Tristan thought about lessons when he was younger before Sabine had gone off to the Imperial Academy. Back then their mother would show them carefully and slowly how to wear armor, shoot a blaster, and even how to stand properly. Their father taught them about art and how to find beauty in everything. 

Cautiously he ventured out, 

“Kanan taught you how to wield the dark saber.”

It must have been the right answer because Sabine smiles at him.

“Among many other things but yes.”

“So are you, by Jedi standards, Sabine Wren padawan of Kanan Jarrus?” It felt strange coming out of his mouth and sounded so weird to his ears.

“Close, we just use padawan for Ezra since he has the Force so his training with Kanan is a bit different.” She straightens her spine, “I am Sabine Wren, student of Knight Kanan Jarrus, padawan of Master Depa Billaba, padawan of Master Mace Windu.”

That all made sense, a lot of time and energy must be put into teacher and student relationship, of course they would become close.

“So it’s a family in the academic sense. Everyone is linked through the minds and their thoughts.”

Sabine was to examining his face, she did it often and Tristan wished she would stop doing it. She never seemed to find what she was looking for.

“Ryloth has a different understanding, that’s the Twi’lek homeworld.”

Now it was his turn to roll his eyes. 

“I know that. I am not completely ignorant of the larger galaxy, Sabine.”

She held up her hands. “Just checking.” 

It was said innocently but she had a mischievous grin. 

“There was this one time that the crew went to Ryloth and were actually planetside inside of just up in orbit with the Twi’lek resistance fleet. It started badly because every couple of hours Cham, Hera’s father would introduce some big young twi’lek to Hera as if she was single. Even when Kanan was right next to here.”

By the scandalous tone in Sabine’s voice, Tristan guessed that Kanan and Hera must have some form of relationship together. 

“He wasn’t very subtle about wanting his daughter to find a twi’lek husband instead of a human one and hopefully stay on Ryloth. Like that is ever going to happen. So for the first two days, we all avoided Cham and tried to keep to ourselves. One twi’lek was very nice though, an elderly one name Nali. She loved sitting down with us, especially Ezra and I and talk about the places we have been and the places she saw in her youth.”

Sabine paused staring at the wall for a moment lost in the memory. Softer, she started again.

“At dinner the second night she stood in front of Hera and asked if she loved this human. Hera said yes. And then she turned to Kanan and asked him to his face ‘when he married Hera would he take her last name’. of course, he just looked at her and said yes, he always wanted too. Nali proclaimed they had her blessing since all that mattered to her was that Hera loved him and he loved her.” 

Oh no she was searching his face again. He stayed silent though unsure of how a love story between a human and twi’lek had to do with the crew being Sabine’s family. She looked disappointed at that.

“Look, Nali is Cham’s mother, Hera’s grandmother. After she told the whole Syndulla clan that, Nali took Kanan by the hand and insisted on teaching him the Syndulla family dances. Those are sacred to each Twi’lek family and is passed down from generation to generation.”

This was not news to him really. 

“Mother did the same thing with Father when he married her.” 

“Yes, but afterward Nali came up to Ezra and me, and asked about our relationship to Hera, how we felt about her and such. We told the truth, she’s our Tana, a Ryl word that means oldest sister, the one who leads and guides the youngest. Hera is always there when I have a problem, ready with a cup of caff and a listening ear. All Nali asked was that we keep loving Hera as our Tana and do the clan proud.” 

Sabine’s hand came to rest on her ankle above her barefoot as she paused to take a breath. For the first time Tristan noticed a small thin circlet of metal. She had been rubbing it while speaking of the twi’leks, maybe it was a gift from them then.

“We said yes of course and off we were learning all the Syndulla dances. We danced for hours that night with every member of the clan, each showing us different ways they did the families dance. It was one of the most fun nights of my life.”

The look was back but Tristan was focused on the wall instead. Their cousin Tara had round eyes and blonde hair, her original parents had both been part of Death Watch and died without a Clan to take in the young girl so Aunt Ala and Aunt Sersa had adopted her. No one loved Tara any differently for being born to a different family first and then taken to theirs.

“It’s a family based on love, you love someone and that is what makes them family.”

He must have been right again, as the smile got a hair bigger at the corner of her mouth.

“Love is what binds us all together in the end but there is one more step involved.”

Oh, no another puzzle story. If this is how Jedi teach lessons no wonder he had heard tales of Jedi Masters only speaking in riddles.

“So Lothal is a planet that really fostered artists, especially weavers. Most of their culture is centered around the idea of creating something as an action and a choice. Nothing is an accident or coincidence, the world is molded by the spirits and by the people of Lothal. So they have two words for what Basic calls siblings, Nami and Kakna. Kakna means two people who share blood without any other relationship, Nami means sibling.”

A sense of nausea hit Tristan’s stomach. His voice was very soft, almost a whisper.

“Can one be, Nami and Kana?”

“It’s Kakna,” His heart jumped to his throat “and no, wait. You can be Nami and be blood siblings. Blood siblings are just Kakna until they go through the ceremony of declaring each other siblings. Usually it’s done at the birth of the younger one, depending on ages of course. They hand the baby to the older sib and they say, I am your Nami Sabine Wren and I give you this. Which is something the older makes on their own. The item depends on ages and such again. The important thing is the declaration and the effort behind the created item.”

He could see Sabine and her passion for colors and creation loving this tradition.

“Ezra called you Nami, so you did this with each other than? What did you give?”

He picked up one of the gears Sabine had set down earlier to have something to fiddle with.

“You saw the helmet he was wearing, I painted it for him and he gave me a beautiful blanket he wove to stay warm with, it’s still on the ghost.”

She was sad again even though the smile was still present on her face. Tristan did not want her to be sad when thinking of good times.

“So it’s choice. None of them are family just because. They are family because you and they say so.”

Kanan also had the mask clearly painted by Sabine and come to think of it, the first thing Sabine did after he quit the commandos was to take his armor and paint it. A mark of her promise to be his sister. 

“You need all of it to be a family, love, growth, support, and choice. It’s not just about blood.” 

Sabine knocked her shoulders into his playfully,

“Now you’re are getting it. Family comes in different ways, and I have room to love two families in my heart.” 

He turned to the side to hug Sabine. 

“I love you ori’vod” 

“I love you too vod’ika”

She hugged him back.

**Author's Note:**

> This has been sitting on my computer for over two years. Hopefully, it can make at least one person smile during these turbulent times.


End file.
